Many recipes require food which is cut, chopped or diced. In order to prepare such food, many cooks use a variety of tools, such as knives or the like. However, each of these devices has the disadvantage of being slow and tedious. These devices can be tiring as well, especially if a great deal cutting or chopping is required, as when large quantities of food are being prepared.
Therefore, the art contains several powered devices, such as blenders and food processors that are intended to assist a cook in such food preparation. However, such powered devices can be expensive and cumbersome to use. These devices may also be difficult to clean with some of the blades also presenting a danger. If there are many small parts that are exposed to the cutting process, these parts also must be cleaned, thereby adding further difficulties to the cleanup process.
The art also contains a variety of hand-operated cutting devices. However, these hand-operated devices are often difficult to use and are not amenable to a wide variety of uses. For example, many of these devices are suitable only for cutting, while others are suitable only for slicing and so forth. In addition to the just-mentioned drawbacks, many of these hand-operated devices are also difficult to clean.
Many of these devices are fairly expensive, and may not last for great lengths of time, thus further increasing the cost thereof.
Accordingly, there is a need for a food preparation device that is suitable for a wide variety of cutting and chopping procedures, yet which is also easy to use and inexpensive to purchase while still being easy to clean.